Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Joe Biden's Covid Adviser Says No Plans Of Nationwide Lockdown

Joe Biden's Covid Adviser Says No Plans Of Nationwide Lockdown

The US has seen over 100,000 new cases daily for the past nine straight days and averaging over 1,000 deaths a day for the past six consecutive days.

President-elect Joe Biden's top coronavirus adviser said on Friday there were no plans for a wholesale nationwide lockdown to curb the surging coronavirus as three US West Coast states jointly called for a halt in non-essential travel.

The joint advisory from California, Oregon and Washington, urging residents to avoid venturing out of state came as health experts voiced concerns that the coming holiday travel season would accelerate already alarming spikes in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown took the additional step of ordering social gatherings limited to no more than six people, effective immediately, a restriction she said she was prepared to enforce.

"I am not asking you, I am telling you, to stop your social gatherings ... and your house parties and to limit your social interactions to six and under, not more than one household," Brown said.

The increasingly dire situation has prompted a growing list of state and local governments to re-impose restrictions they eased during a summertime ebb in COVID-19 outbreaks.

The governors of six states in the Northeast, the region hit hardest in the early months of the pandemic, plan an emergency meeting this weekend to coordinate responses, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

The country's patchwork of measures will likely remain intact after Biden is inaugurated on January 20 following his election defeat of Republican President Donald Trump, the head of the Democrat's coronavirus advisory board said.

"We're not in a place where we're saying shut the whole country down," Dr. Vivek Murthy, a former US surgeon general, told ABC's 'Good Morning America.'

"Right now the way we should be thinking about this is more like a series of restrictions that we dial up or down depending on how bad a spread is taking place in a specific region," he said.

Murthy's comments were a sharp rebuttal to Trump's repeated campaign assertions that Biden was intent on locking down the country if he were elected president.

Medical experts point to increased indoor gatherings with the onset of winter, along with lapses in social distancing and mask-wearing habits, as the main factors stoking an ominous nationwide surge in coronavirus transmissions and the rate of COVID-19 tests coming back positive.

The mounting caseload is starting to strain the resources of some hospitals and is on track to push many to the brink, they warn.

"I'm 100 per cent worried about the holidays," Dr. Khalilah Gates, a pulmonary specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, told Reuters on Friday. "We don't have an endless ability to surge."

Troubling Benchmarks


Announcing the West Coast travel advisory, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said a strict mandate was ruled out over concerns that "COVID fatigue" might spark a backlash, leading people to behave in ways that are less safe.

The advisory urges individuals entering or returning to the three states to self-quarantine for 14 days, the presumed incubation period for the virus.

On Thursday, California became only the second state, after Texas earlier this month, to see its tally of confirmed infections to date top 1 million, with its daily average of new cases jumping nearly 50 per cent in the first week of November.

"This is the fastest rate of rise we have seen in California," said Dr. Erica Pan, the state's acting health officer and chief epidemiologist.

Illinois reported a record 15,433 new cases on Friday, the most of any state in a 24-hour period, surpassing the previous all-time high of 15,300 set by Florida in July.

The United States has documented more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases daily for the past nine straight days while averaging over 1,000 deaths a day for the past six consecutive days, a trend last seen in August.

The daily caseload has more than doubled in 13 states over the past two weeks, most of them in the Midwest, according to a Reuters tally of figures from US public health agencies.

Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, attributed some of the spikes to recent Halloween celebrations. He warned of more to come if Americans ignored advice to avoid traveling and gathering for Thanksgiving in late November and Christmas.

Chicago has urged residents to stay at home and shun visitors for the next 30 days, including Thanksgiving.

In New York City, restaurants were ordered closed to indoor dining at 10 pm, while Detroit public schools suspended in-person learning starting on Friday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert serving on Trump's coronavirus task force, said he has had no contact with Biden's transition team, but his advice would be to continue social distancing, avoiding crowds, wearing masks and washing hands.

"Public health principles don't change from one month to another or from one administration to another," he said in an interview.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×